Chapter 2 #2
“Of course.” Willow backed out of the way so Scottie could take a seat.
As Scottie settled in, her gaze flicked down to the computer tower.
It rested directly on the carpet, not on an antistatic mat or on a rack beneath the desk, as she had first thought.
“Um, your computer sitting on the floor isn’t ideal,” she said as patiently as possible.
“The carpet attracts dust and creates static, especially if the cleaning crew vacuums too close to the computer.”
Willow ducked her head. “Sorry. The person who had my job before me must have put it there. Maybe they wanted more desk space.”
“Hey, no need to apologize. If anything, it’s us who dropped the ball. We should’ve checked your workstation before you started, but we’re one tech short right now, and it’s been one of those weeks.”
Willow waved a hand. “No worries. We’ve all had those weeks.”
“If you need the space, I can set up a rack beneath the desk for you,” Scottie said.
“No, thank you,” Willow replied. “That’s not necessary. We can just put it on the desk.”
“All right. I’ll do that in a minute. But let’s see if I can find out what’s wrong with your keyboard first.” Scottie glanced around Willow’s workspace, checking for physical damage, spills, or debris that might block the keys.
But the desk was clean and nearly empty.
The only things that stood out were a paper planner and an old-fashioned Rolodex.
It had been ages since Scottie had seen one of those. Everyone in her orbit relied on digital calendars and contacts synced to the cloud. Was Willow one of those tech-averse people who eyed all electronic devices with suspicion and hardly knew how to send an email?
Maybe the keyboard issues were just plain old user error.
Scottie opened the Notepad app and typed a few lines, then tried the same in the Sandbox and a few other applications.
The letters appeared on-screen without even a hint of lag.
“Hmm, it seems to be behaving for me right now,” Scottie said.
“I swear it was completely frozen a minute ago.” A hint of defensiveness crept into Willow’s tone.
Scottie lifted her hands off the keyboard in a placating gesture. “I believe you. We call it the IT effect—the problem vanishes the moment someone from tech support arrives. Let me check all the usual suspects anyway, just to make sure the issue doesn’t reoccur as soon as I leave.”
She pulled out her small flashlight to peer under the desk and confirm the Bluetooth dongle was firmly placed in the USB port.
Usually, she would have popped open the battery cover to make sure they were inserted correctly, but the keyboard was working, plus she didn’t want to make Willow even more defensive by implying she couldn’t even put in the batteries the right way.
With practiced ease, she checked the accessibility settings and the keyboard properties. The repeat rate was turned up to maximum, and Sticky Keys and Filter Keys were turned off. Hm. Not that either.
Willow stayed back and watched quietly from several steps away, but Scottie was very aware of the woman’s gaze following her every movement.
She opened the task manager and looked for any runaway processes that might have consumed excessive resources and bogged down the system. A few CPU spikes and slightly elevated RAM, but nothing unusual given the Sandbox simulations Willow had been running.
Willow shifted her weight behind her.
Scottie glanced over her shoulder.
Willow was watching her with an expression she couldn’t quite read, maybe a mix of patience and resigned dread.
Didn’t she believe Scottie could fix her problem? As the only woman in the IT department, Scottie had encountered that lack of trust in her abilities a few times, especially in the beginning, but something told her that wasn’t the case now.
Willow was just as mysterious and hard to grasp as the source of the keyboard issues.
“So,” Scottie said while she checked for Windows updates, making sure it wasn’t outdated software causing problems, “how long have you worked at Kudos? You’re a new hire, right?”
“Yes,” Willow replied. “Just started today.”
Scottie wagged her finger at the keyboard. “And this is the kind of welcome you’re giving Willow? Shame on you!”
Over her shoulder, she caught a hint of a smile on Willow’s face, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared.
Scottie opened the device manager and updated the driver manually, not trusting the automatic Windows process to find the newest version for the wireless keyboard.
While she shut down the computer, she turned around in the office chair to face Willow.
“I couldn’t find any obvious cause. Everything seems to be working normally right now, but I went ahead and updated the driver just in case.
I’m going to move the tower onto the desk now, then restart it.
Sometimes, a fresh start is all it takes to smooth out the glitches. ”
Something shifted in Willow’s expression, but, again, her face was as unreadable as the two monitors, which now went black as the computer powered down.
Scottie got up, crouched, and unplugged the power cord, followed by the other cables. “Did you move here for the job, or are you from around here?” She always chatted with people while she worked. Usually, it put them at ease.
But Willow looked like a prisoner being interrogated. “I moved here a couple of weeks ago.” Her voice wasn’t unfriendly, just professional, drawing a clear line.
“Oh, cool. How do you find Portland so far?”
“Rainy,” Willow replied with the tiniest hint of a grin.
Scottie laughed. “No one has ever moved here for the weather; that’s for sure.
But I promise Portland has its perks.” Carefully, she slid the computer out from under the desk, lifted it up, and placed it next to the monitors, at a safe distance from the edge.
“If you ever need a local tour guide to show you the best food carts, the weirdest festivals, and all the other insider spots, let me know.”
“Thanks. That’s very generous of you,” Willow said, but Scottie had a feeling she wouldn’t take her up on the offer.
One by one, she reconnected the cables, then pressed the power button. When the login screen came up, she gestured toward the desk chair. “Let’s see if it’ll behave for you now. Go ahead and try to log in.”
Gingerly, Willow took a seat and typed in her password.
Each key responded without the slightest lag.
Scottie grinned. “Looks like you’re all set. But keep an eye on it, and if it starts going rogue again, file a ticket, and I’ll hurry to the rescue.”
Willow nodded. “Thank you. And I’m really sorry for keeping you so long. It’s probably past your quitting time.”
Scottie waved her off. “No worries. After hours, when it’s quieter, is often the best time to fix stuff. Have a great rest of the day.”
“You too.”
Scottie took her tool kit and the spare keyboard and walked to the door. After a few steps, she turned back around.
Willow had taken her hands off the keyboard and was watching her leave.
“Welcome to Kudos, by the way,” Scottie called back to her.
“Thank you,” Willow replied softly.
With a nod, Scottie backed through the glass door, turned, and walked to the elevator.
The keyboard was working. Case closed. Normally, she wouldn’t keep thinking about such a routine problem once she walked away. But somehow, she had a feeling she hadn’t seen the last of Willow Greene.